The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell

In the early hours of an April morning, Maya stumbles into the path of an oncoming bus.
A tragic accident?
Or suicide?
Her grief-stricken husband, Adrian, is determined to find out. Maya had a job she enjoyed; she had friends. They'd been in love. She even got on with his two previous wives and their children. In fact, they'd all been one big happy family.
But before long Adrian starts to identify the dark cracks in his perfect life. Because everyone has secrets.
And secrets have consequences.
Some of which can be devastating.

I love books by Lisa Jewell and I have especially loved her more recent releases as we see her writing heading in a different direction and when I had read reviews of her recent release it really was a 50/50 so I really wanted to read this one I was intrigued by the synopsis and the title of the book so I had to give The Third Wife a try.

The opening to this book had me on edge and it was looking like this was going to be a great start to an intense read with an element of mystery to it. Maya is Adrian’s third wife and he is coming to terms with her death after she was killed after being hit by a bus only thing is he can’t get to the bottom of why his wife would have been drunk and stumble in front of the bus. Her death has impacted on the whole of the Wolfe family but not all in the same way.

The plot was a very interesting and unique one which had the potential to make this a compelling read and yet this book didn’t quite do it for me. I read this book very quickly because I did find that I  was intrigued to find out who Jane was and what she had to do with the story and there was suspense around the events that caused Maya to die so I was hooked and I did enjoy this book. But the storyline just seemed to simmer along for me I kept getting the feeling like the storyline was about to take off but it never quite got there for me.

I found the whole extended family set up great and I am sure things would be so much better for real families if they could get on as well as this family. What I really loved though was the way Maya felt about being the third wife around this large family, her feelings were portrayed so well and were so believable feeling like the spare part in this unconventional family. I was so shocked in the characters thoughts and feelings towards Adrian it seemed like even though he caused heartache and left destruction in his path he was still loved and people thought he was a very nice likeable man!

I love a good twist and this is something that Jewell provided for me, I was sure I knew who the poisonous person was but I got it completely wrong and I loved the author for being able to pull the wool over my eyes but I have to say I think the way the real culprit was dealt with was appalling!

So although this isn’t a favourite of mine by Lisa Jewell I still enjoyed this book but I just felt it had the potential to be so much better. I still think fans of this author will enjoy this book and I know I will still be picking up her next release.

Kindle                      Hardback